Structured Settlement For Minors and Laws

Our courts are very protective of our minors when they are involved in personal injury lawsuits. Structured settlement claims for minors must be given approval by the court in various proceedings. These court proceedings are given various names such as court approval, confirmation, guardianship or minor's compromise. Since these claimants are minors, the court will take several things under consideration. Considerations such as:

The child not have full access to all of the money at once.
The court needs to ensure that the child's needs are constantly taken care of and fear that the money will actually be spent all at once. Or venturing into some bad investment that brings loss to the funds.

The Money will be wisely invested
The court is highly concerned about proper investment of the settlement in order to allow growth of the funds.

The Guardian or Parent not use the funds for personal reasons.
The settlement belongs to the minor that the settlement is awarded to. There are however cases where parents or guardians use or invest the money for their own personal reasons and the minor is ignored in receiving the rightful compensation deserved.


Under the Laws of most states, once a child is the receiver of a structured settlement, you are not able to take funds out of a large settlement on behalf of the minor and use it on behalf of yourself. Whether it be an investment or just spending.

There are however certain things that mitigate against the guardian or parent which may hinder them from dipping into the minors structured settlement. Normally a portion of the structured settlement lump some is placed in a blocked account which means that the funds can only be accessed usually by a court order. The blocked account is tagged for paying any current medical expenses. The remainder of the settlement is geared towards making structured payments to the minor once the age of 18 has been attained.